MasukDAMON'S POV I don't overthink it when I look away. She probably wouldn't feel comfortable dressing with me fucking her with my eye. I set the firewood down harder than necessary. The impact echoes through the clearing, sharp against the soft sound of water around her. She still doesn't move. “Michaela,” I say before I can reconsider it. “Out of the water. Get dressed.” My voice comes out rougher than intended. Not fully commanding. Not calm either. Something caught in between, like control spoken through clenched teeth. I glance at her again. She hasn't moved still. She blinks at me once, slowly, like she’s trying to understand why I sound like that. Why it doesn’t match the stillness of my body. For a second she just stares, heat already rising in her cheeks. Her arms shift beneath the water as she reaches for her flowers. And goddess help me, that small motion nearly unthreads whatever restraint I still have left. The flowers slip from her grasp completely, drifting
DAMON'S POV For a second, I think I'm having one of those dreams again. Those dreams that had started so long ago and refused to leave me alone even after I had convinced myself I hated her. Completely. Dreams where she was mine. Where she let me do all sorts of unspeakable things to her. I blink once. Twice. Shake my head slightly like that will somehow fix whatever the hell is happening to me. But she is still there. Still standing waist-deep in the water looking like every bad decision I have ever tried not to make. Some of the firewood slips from my arms and hits the ground with a dull crack. I barely hear it. Barely feel it. My entire body has already locked onto her. She looks up immediately. Water slides slowly down her shoulders as she turns toward me. And goddess help me, that somehow makes everything infinitely worse. Wet curls cling to her skin. Tiny droplets trail down the graceful curve of her throat before disappearing lower. Across her collarbones. B
AUTHORS NOTE: please don't read until you go two chapters back to the chapter titled "That just happened" then read forward. The repeat chapter would reflect a new chapter as well which you don't have to pay for again. Thanks. MICHAELA’S POV I miss having actual food. I miss sleeping in a bed. I miss all the times I didn’t smell like mud, sweat, and wet forest. I miss warm showers. I miss clean clothes. I miss Emory. I miss Georgia and Coby. I even miss Mason. Slightly. I miss Cole. And it’s only been two days. “Wait,” Damon says quietly, lifting a hand for me to stop. I halt immediately, eyes fixed on his back as he listens for something. Or someone. Apart from stopping briefly to rest and find food earlier, we haven’t stopped moving all day. The humid forest air clings heavily to my skin, thick with the scent of damp earth and moss. Birds shriek somewhere high overhead while insects buzz endlessly through the trees. For once, though, we are lucky.
DAMON’S POV We continue our trek through the woods in silence. An hour passes. Then another. Then another. There’s no exact way to measure how long we’ve been moving, but from the position of the sun overhead, I know we’re well past noon now. I keep close track of our direction as we move through the forest, making sure this detour doesn’t leave us hopelessly lost somewhere in the middle of nowhere three days from now. Behind me, Michaela follows carefully through the uneven terrain. Trying to hide the strain in her breathing. Trying to hide the way her ankle keeps slowing her down. Trying to hide the fact that her stomach has been audibly protesting starvation for the last five minutes. “We should rest,” I say finally, stopping and turning toward her. Michaela doesn’t argue. Doesn’t complain that resting means spending even more time trapped out here with me. She just lowers herself carefully against the base of a tree and takes a long drink from the water
“Goddess damn it,” I hiss.Above me, Damon stares down in absolute disbelief for half a second.Then he laughs.Actually laughs.The sound is roughened by leftover tension, low and breathless, but real enough that it sends a fresh wave of heat straight into my face.I ignore it.Completely.I glare up at Damon.“That was not funny.”He stops laughing abruptly, but stares down at me from the couch, his eyes flicking briefly to my ankle, entirely too calm for someone who just turned my entire nervous system against me.“I thought you said you wouldn’t touch me unless I wanted you to.”“Don’t you?” he asks lightly.The worst part is the confidence in his voice.Like he already knows the answer.“You were practically seducing me,” I accuse.“I never claimed moral superiority,” Damon replies without a trace of remorse.Then his gaze flicks downward.“That would’ve been dishonest.”My eyes follow his gaze automatically.Big mistake.Heat climbs straight into my face as I realize he is looki
“What are you doing?” I gasp as Damon’s hand slips beneath my shirt. His palm skims slowly across my stomach, fingertips brushing the underside of my breast just enough to send heat flashing through me. “What you asked for,” Damon says against my ear, voice dark and rough around the edges. “You wanted to see what happens when I stop controlling myself, remember?” “I didn’t mean—” The words break apart before I can finish them. Because I don’t entirely know what I meant. A quiet sound leaves him. Not laughter. Something lower. More dangerous. “Then you really shouldn’t have said that,” Damon murmurs, voice rough. “I was barely holding on before. Now Ruin thinks you meant it.” The name shifts something in the air between us. My breath catches. “Ruin?” His hand stills for half a second. Not gentle. Controlled. Like the name had stirred something dangerous beneath his skin. “My wolf,” he says, his mouth brushing the side of my neck like he can’t quite help h
I watch as the car pulls up to the curb.I leave my bedroom window and rush downstairs, taking a steadying breath before opening the front door.Cole remains in the driver’s seat, waiting.He’s been driving Talia and me to school ever since he got his license three years ago. Even after graduating,
I scrub my hands longer than necessary.The sink squeaks when I turn it off.I count to ten before I reach for his door.He hates when I knock before entering his room.I do it anyway.I wait a second before turning the knob and stepping inside.There’s a bottle of sanitizer on the table by his cot
Damon has never let a slight go unpunished. Which means I’m either already dead… or something is very, very wrong. By noon, Damon should have humiliated me. At least twice. He hadn’t even looked at me. I keep glancing over my shoulder, half convinced I woke up in some parallel universe w
What are you doing?Somewhere in the back of my mind, a small, rational voice tries to break through.My fingers grow bolder.They trace a slow path across his shoulder, up the side of his throat, along the sharp line of his jaw.His breathing changes.I hear it.Feel it.The low growl building in h







